Vacation in Slovakia 2009 (Bicycling: T. Jaseno – Jasenska Dolina – Necpaly – Folkusova – Pribovce – Martin)

June 25th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Bicycling, Photography, Slovakia, Travel

For this ride, we were joined by my mom the first time although she did have some doubts us being able to finish this ride, considering the amount of hills. The ride I planned would take us from Ladoven through Drazkovce, Horny and Dolny Kalnik via the first big hill to Turcianske Jaseno, from there via the second big hill to Jasenska Dolina and Bela-Dulice. From Bela to Necpaly and from there via the third big hill to Folkusova and then through Pribovce back home to Martin.

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Elevation profile of the ride

The first few miles went ok, the weather was sunny and breezy, just about perfect temperature for riding. Then came the first big hill from Kalnik to Turcianske Jaseno but we did push through and got to the top on pretty the easiest gear. We took a short break and gulped down some GU energy gel, something we have not tried before. Both the Lemon and Tri Berry flavors actually tasted ok. Quite frankly, I expected much worse.

Top of the hill between Kalnik and Turcianske Jaseno

On the way to Turcianske Jaseno, the Lysec peak is in the background

The ride down hill to Turcianske Jaseno was sweet, albeit very short – much shorter than the climb. The village pretty much sits at the bottom of a valley so we immediately had to start climbing up to get over the hill to Jasenska Dolina valley. Both me and Andi got off and pushed for a while but my mom stubbornly pedaled and eventually managed to bike all the way up.

My mom on the way to Jasenska Dolina

Andi just before the top, with the panoramic view of southern part of the Turiec basin and the Mala Fatra mountains behind her.

Andi starting the long and sweet descent to Jasenska dolina valley and Bela-Dulice.

In Bela-Dulice we were quite thirsty and so we hit the first pub for a pint of our most favorite Kofola and mozied over a small hill to Necpaly where the real fun began. Considerably tired from the two previous climbs we were faced with a solid 12% incline on the hill leading to the village of Folkusova. Me and Andi pushed the bikes for short periods of time while my mom pedaled on like a robot. Unbelievably enough she made it to the top with only a few breaks but without a single meter of walking. The ride down hill was amazing, my GPS reported the maximum speed of 45 miles/hour or 72 km/hour for those who are metrically inclined. I am not sure what my previous “speed record” was but I am pretty sure it was not even close to this. Oh the little joys of life. In Folkusova we turned west and continued to Danova on what was still a considerable downhill ride to Pribovce to Martin.